A few weeks ago when discussing the diagram of module 1 in our introductory zoom session Helen, Pedro and I talk about the idea of the lineages of practice. The idea of tracing such lineages are to recognise the practice developed before us and where we can find histories of the inspirations behind us.
My practice originated out of jazz music which has an incredibly rich heritage and my lineage must be rooted with recognition and respect of it's origins. It is also important for me as a white man to respect that jazz comes from African-American roots and to recognise the important understanding of the tensions that exist in my performing such a music.
My starting points for exploring this heritage has been the incredible book Hear Me Talkin' To Ya which is a collection of interviews with some of the most important founders of jazz music from Louis Armstrong to Ella Fitzgerald to Billie Holiday. Author Nat Shapiro, himself a famous jazz producer, acts more as an editor filtering through his interviews and pasting together exerts to tell the story of jazz. I marvelled in the stories of the artists' humble origins, for example did you know Louis Armstrong as a young lad work cleaning and sweeping at a New Orleans Brothel. The book also talks about practice and approaches to music and how the musicians learnt doing sit ins on sessions and building up their skills. Having read about this route into playing I'd realised I had done the same and followed such a route.
My next course of personal inquiry was to specifically focus on my instrument, the clarinet, and see who was out there. I was interested to look at who were the main performers I could borrow and take inspiration from. The two main clarinet inspirations I found were Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. Both had similar backgrounds as the children of Jewish immigrant who moved to America from Lithuania and Austria and had experienced anti-Semitism in their youth. They found an affinity to jazz as a music against oppression and develop their own virtuosic styles as well as going on to lead their own big bands. It is however important to acknowledge that these man could be more successful due to being white musicians in a segregated nation where their skin colour afforded them opportunities black clarinettists never really had.
Benny Goodman's style very much captured the golden age of swing with his driving rhythms that turned the dance floor form something traditional and convention to something fiery and chaotic. This is capture well in his version of 'Sing Sing Sing' in which he plays a high octave solo that stretches the clarinet to the extent of its capabilities.
Artie Shaw on the other hand was more reserved and about style, panache and class. His crowning virtuosic performance is his big band's version of Cole Porter's 'Begin the Beguine' where his use of vibrato creates such a warm glow and rich tone full of grace, space and technique. His style is that of Broadway composers playing in ways that would not be out of place in a Gershwin Rhapsody.
I've learnt from Goodwin how to groove driven and chaotic and form Shaw the importance of space and technique to develop. Since these two virtuosos there has been a huge gulf in jazz clarinet talent replicating the style, standard and innovation. Bebop didn't really have a place sonically for the clarinet and modern jazz is so sax driven. Despite this the clarinet has found it's way back into post-modern conceptions of jazz with the instrument being used to create a timbre of nostalgia.
My most recent clarinet influence is Chloe Feoranzo who has gained fame through her performances with the group Postmodern Jukebox who take modern pop tunes and turn them into jazz standards. Chloe is a pioneer of a postmodern style referencing Goodman and Shaw but with attitude and a warm tone that intertwines with voice for a gorgeous repartee. She shows the dialogue clarinet can have in music.
From these experiences I can learn where my sounds come form and understand how to use my instrument within a piece of music and how to approach technique.
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